CROSS-BORDER SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND AGREEMENTS: An ...

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The ITGLWF’s policy on cross-border dialogue – Miller list of country suppliers as part of a joint risk-assessment effort. Since one of the purposes of an IFA is to assist affiliates in their organizing efforts (Riisgaard, 2005; Wills, 2002), a key objective in ITGLWF policy could be achieved at a stroke without having an agreement with these companies: the provision of key data for the affiliates of the ITGLWF to consider when planning national organizing drives, particularly in relation to those retailers and merchandisers with which the ITGLWF is beginning to develop a constructive social dialogue in other forums (see below). Thus, the disclosure of supplier locations has largely contributed to a shift in focus in the ITGLWF’s multinational strategy, since it provided what was for the ITGLWF a prerequisite for adopting an IFA. Added to the fact that most MNCs in the TCF sector have now adopted a corporate code of conduct aimed at promoting a body of labour standards similar to that contained in IFAs, it has suddenly become possible for the ITGLWF to develop a type of organizing strategy vis-à-vis the MNCs that have disclosed their supplier locations. In sum, this has meant a shift in focus towards the use of emerging relationships between the ITGLWF and corporate social responsibility (CSR) staff in MNCs, for the development of a more proactive approach at national level in implementing the freedom of association and collective bargaining standards contained in the codes of disclosing MNCs. Codes of conduct Among sectors, TCF has arguably generated the largest body of codes of conduct in an effort to lay down the basis for social compliance in its supply chains. The ITGLWF has had to vie with a “code of conduct and compliance industry” where MNCs have had a predilection for coopting NGOs and consultants rather than courting organized labour in their efforts to establish global social dialogue. In the absence of negotiated IFAs and more formal proactive dialogue with an MNC, the ITGLWF as a matter of policy had been encouraging affiliates to use codes of conduct as the normative reference point in any unresolved national disputes with a supplier, particularly where labour standards contained in the multinational buyer’s code had been breached. 18 Although the trade union position was to present IFAs as alternatives to codes of conduct (Kearney and Justice, 2003), codes were nevertheless 18 See http://www.itglwf.org/pdf/HowtoUseCodes-pp43-56.pdf [4 Oct. 2006]. 177
Cross-border social dialogue and agreements still deemed to serve a purpose as a norm prevailing in a supply chain which workers could use particularly in such a poorly organized sector. Moreover, a code of conduct and an IFA are not mutually exclusive: it is by no means a given that a successfully negotiated IFA in the TCF sector would supplant or replace an existing corporate code and related compliance efforts. This is because, although an agreement would cement a relationship between the ITGLWF and a particular MNC, the suppliers may still be bound by contractual commercial relationships with other MNCs which, as clients, may have stipulated different requirements. During a factory visit to the Triumph facility in Thailand, it could be observed that several different “codes” were pinned on the notice boards by the staff canteen — the company code that had been negotiated between the European works council and the company, 19 the Adidas Standards of Engagement and the global social accountability standard SA 8000. The company justification for this was that although the company essentially produced its own brands, it nevertheless acted as supplier to some major labels which insisted on their own code or third-party code requirements. In the majority of cases where affiliates and other organizations bring an urgent appeal to the attention of the ITGLWF, the focus is usually on the failure of a supplier to observe the freedom of association and collective bargaining provisions of a particular buyer’s codes (ITGLWF, 2004b; see also Rimml, 2003). Increasingly, this type of case has involved degrees of direct local intervention by the general secretary of the ITGLWF, often accompanied by CSR staff of the major buyers, to pressure the management of suppliers to, for example, reinstate sacked trade union organizers and put in place an industrial relations framework (ITGLWF, 2006c). ITGLWF involvement in multi-stakeholder initiatives Some of interventions have been made as a result of the ITGLWF’s involvement in multi-stakeholder initiatives. Such initiatives are common in the TCF sector. In them, civil society organizations, employers and even government officers are involved in the design and implementation 19 Triumph International’s Code of Conduct, based on the Corporate Image of Triumph International and the Charter of the European Social Partners of the Textile and Clothing Sectors, signed on 12 December 2001. Available at: www.triumph-international.com/downloads/Code_of_Conduct_GB.PDF [4 Oct. 2006]. 178
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CROSS-BORDER SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND AG
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Published by the International Inst
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Cross-border social dialogue and ag
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Contributors Dominique Bé, an econ
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Contributors Nathan Lillie is Assis
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Acronyms BWI Building and Wood Work
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Introduction Konstantinos Papadakis
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Introduction - Papadakis each with
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Introduction - Papadakis above. Thi
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Introduction - Papadakis tices unde
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Introduction - Papadakis role of co
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Introduction - Papadakis veaux enje
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Chapter 1 International framework a
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International framework agreements:
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Chapter 3 International framework a
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International framework agreements
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Part 3 Legal dimensions 113
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A report on the European Commission
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Appendix
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